I thought I'd take the opportunity while knives were on my mind to post some pictures of knives I have, or have had, over the years. Since I'll be posting several pictures over the next few days, weeks or months, I figured I'd better start a new thread for them.

If memory serves, I believe it was 1976 when I first got interested in knives. As I travelled the world I was fortunate enough to see a great variety of different types, buying one here or there as I found one that caught my eye and was in my price range.

In honor of Nielau's thread I'll start off with a picture of my Ulu. This one is somewhat sharp, but isn't a tough and razor-sharp workhorse like Nielau's. It's more of a decorative piece, with a hand carved scrimshaw handle. It's been quite a few years since I received it as a gift and I wish I had more concrete details on this piece, but if memory serves I think the handle material is from a walrus tusk. They told me it was made by an Eskimo and they purchased it in Alaska or Northern Canada, I forget which. From the looks of it, I'd guess it's a mass produced blade, with the handmade handle fitted to it later.

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I posted a modern version of one made by CRKT at the end of my original post in answer to a suggestion that Rai had.

Here are several pieces of my collection. I've edited out a couple of things in the photo so as to just leave the knives. The objects edited out will be the subject of a later thread.

You will probably recognise most of the knives. They are not my fanciest . I'll get out the camera and get busy.

The small pen knife at the bottom in a 1924 Remington (looked up the serial number) that I pick up for $5 at a junk shop. many years ago. According to the 1984 Levines price guide they were worth about $500 !!!!!! nice score. It's always in my pocket -- I love carbon steel.

I don't use any of my good knives -- just handle and admire them.

Anyway here is a sample of the collection.

PS. Top top knife will be more to Xeos liking

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The second knife I'm posting, or pair of knives as the case may be, is at selim's request.

My wife likes the Pitch Black / Riddick movies, so for Valentines Day I bought her a replica of a pair of knives he used in The Chronicles Of Riddick. They have a display stand, blued steel blades and nylon wrapped handles over rayskin, although I imagine the rayskin is fake. I think they were going for a look similar to samurai sword handles.

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She opened the package, thought they were neat, then perhaps it might have been her softer side that took over as she noticed that if you held them just right...

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Well, it was Valentines Day, after all.

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This is a Benchmade #970 “SPEC WAR MODEL CQC-7” folding knife. The blade is ATS-34 but this is an early model (I think this one is from the second production run) before they started marking the blade with the type of steel that was used. The handle liners and lock are titanium, and the handle scales are G-10. It has a spring steel pocket clip that is removable and replaceable, held in place with three small screws.

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The design comes from Emerson custom knives, a company which has been around since the mid 1980s. They’re expensive, but regardless of that, the popularity of these handmade knives was such that even in their early days there was a waiting list as long as five years for some models. I hear the waiting list is currently 13 years and they’ve stopped accepting orders for custom designs.

In the mid 1990s Emerson licensed one of his designs to be manufactured by Benchmade, with his name and logo on it. He took his CQC-6, originally designed and named for the US Navy Seal Team Six, modified it slightly and named it the CQC-7. Not quite the level of prestige of the handmade models produced directly by Emerson, but the CQC-7 is still excellent quality and it brought an Emerson design down to the price range where average users could afford it. More importantly, it’s the first time an Emerson design was readily available to anyone who wanted to walk in off the street and buy one.

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It’s far from being the first tactical folding knife, but this is the model that made the idea go viral among law enforcement, military and commercial markets. I believe Benchmade’s contract with Emerson expired in 1999 but it remains one of the most popular tactical knife designs on the market. There are many designs by other companies which were inspired by it, and also a number of outright copies, although the original Benchmade models tend to have some collector value.

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MBI wrote:This is a Benchmade #970 “SPEC WAR MODEL CQC-7” folding knife. The blade is ATS-34 but this is an early model (I think this one is from the second production run) before they started marking the blade with the type of steel that was used. The handle liners and lock are titanium, and the handle scales are G-10 (micarta).

Those are incredible knives in my experience.

One correction, however. G-10 is G-10, Micarta is Micarta. G10 is a type of fiberglass. There are also other laminates in that series, G-11, for example. Micarta comes in several different types. Linen, cotton, paper, etc., and was developed by Westinghouse approximately 100 years ago. Formica was long rumored to stand for, "Formerly Micarta." But it actually stands for, "For Mica."

Materials are absolutely fascinating.

I used to have one of the Benchmade Emerson CQC-7s and I miss it terribly. Awesome knife.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." ~ Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Prediction

I had thought they were separate things, but as I was looking up a few things to make sure I was remembering the details correctly, an article which seemed rather authoritative kept referring G-10 as a type of Micarta so I put that in there, but I believe you are right.

G-10, I think, made it's way into the knife world as just another cool thing to use for knife handles/grips. Micarta is probably a lot safer to use but you shouldn't make a habit of breathing in the dust from that, either. But grinding to form or finish various types of fiberglass can really, really, damage your lungs. Then came Carbon Fiber.

I think the best way to characterize the difference between Micarta and G-10 is that they both use Phenolic Resin (as far as I know) and Micarta can use laminates of linen, canvas, etc., and G-10 (Garolite) is fiberglass.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." ~ Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Prediction

In 1999 after the contract with Benchmade expired to manufacture the CQC-7, Emerson began making their own production line version, designated the CQC-7B. When introduced, pricing was relatively comparable with the Benchmade, but I like the Emerson version a little better.

The first production run was individually serial numbered, I don’t know if later runs were also serialized. This one is serial number 283. This model differs from the Benchmade in that the G-10 handle scales are more rounded at the edges giving it a more comfortable grip. The clip on the Emerson version is reversible and can be attached at either end of the handle, unlike the Benchmade. The 154CM steel blade has the standard Emerson satin finish and is slightly smoother opening than the Benchmade model; you can open it with a flick of the wrist without having to use the thumb stud.

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In the pic below the top knife is a G. Sakai skinner with granite slab handles. The second is a limited edition Buck 110 with Stag handle and a laminated steel blade (enlarge to see). The last one is a traditional Austrain/German hunting knife by Boker.

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This one is, as far as I can determine is a “trade blade” made for trading in the Pacific Islands. What is interesting about it the that it has the Sabitier trade mark (Gabriel blowing his horn) but is marked as made in Western Germany (Sabitier is a French knife maker) I suppose that it was made in the 1920 when the French were using German factories as part of the repatriation for WWI. The handle is 8 inches long and the blade is just over 10 inches long. The wire wrapping is original.

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This one is a humongous folder by Bench Made (I forgot it’s name). It won the Knife of the year when it came out and is the smoothest opening and closing folder I have ever seen. Plus it locks up absolutely solid. Blade is of SV30 steel VERY sharp!!!

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This last one is a new wallet knife that I think is quite neat. A clever piece of design and use of modern materials.

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I have many more but will leave off for now and wait to see some more of MBIs’ collection.

Cheers.

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A folding tomahawk is the latest addition, a father's day gift to me from the family.It has a pocket clip on the end of the handle on the back side.When folded it's just barely small enough to be able to fit clipped in the front pocket of a pair of typical cargo pants, if someone wanted it for EDC.

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Sorry for the mediocre picture. I didn't feel like dragging out the proper camera gear so I just snapped this one with my wife's phone camera.

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MBI wrote:In 1999 after the contract with Benchmade expired to manufacture the CQC-7, Emerson began making their own production line version, designated the CQC-7B. When introduced, pricing was relatively comparable with the Benchmade, but I like the Emerson version a little better.

The first production run was individually serial numbered, I don’t know if later runs were also serialized. This one is serial number 283. This model differs from the Benchmade in that the G-10 handle scales are more rounded at the edges giving it a more comfortable grip. The clip on the Emerson version is reversible and can be attached at either end of the handle, unlike the Benchmade. The 154CM steel blade has the standard Emerson satin finish and is slightly smoother opening than the Benchmade model; you can open it with a flick of the wrist without having to use the thumb stud.

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The CQC-7 has been on my wish list quite some time, Now I want the CQC-7B

(17:44:28) HAL 9000 Sez: LockSport is full of children who throw fits because low priced low security products sold in discount department stores do not meet their arbitrary expectations.